War Against the Leaf
by Ernilriel
Summary: A mysterious ninja appears in Kanoha with news of war, is this a joke or something much worse.
1. Warning posted

War Against the Leaf

By: Ernilriel

Disclaimers: Naruto is not mine, whoopdie frickin' doo!

"speech", _thoughts._

Prologue: A War Is Brewing

_Running, gotta keep running! _

Dogs howled in the distance, a young man not much older than 17 was running for his life in the forest. It was dark, about 11 o'clock at night. Another howl.

"GAAUUGGHH!" the young man cried as he tripped on a tree root that stuck up from the ground. The young man spat out dirt and blood. Just then a large dog leaped over the young man and skidded to a halt. Then in a puff of smoke the dog turned into a full grown man in his early thirties.

"Where do you think you're going, Gabriel?" the older man asked with a sneer. He wore a forehead protector with a symbol of a pentagram on it. He had black hair and ice cold black eyes, he had a scar on his right cheek.

"I have to warn Konoha about Moragar's evil intentions, and I won't let you stop me!" Gabriel shouted at the man, he wore the same forehead protector.

" You honestly think you can beat an elite level ninja, when you barely made it to journeyman level! You are hopeless aren't you?!" after saying that the ninja pulled out a kunai and charged!

Gabriel was ready and blocked the man's attack with his own kunai and as a counter attack, Gabriel stabbed the man in the wrist with a kunai hidden under his wrist bracers. The man howled in pain as the kunai lodged its self between the bones in his wrists.

"HA! NEVER under estimate your opponent!" Gabriel laughed in triumph.

"Grrrrrrr. You may have gotten me this time but let me tell you: there won't be a second time!" the flustered man growled and ran off clutching his wrist cursing wildly as he left.

Gabriel got up brushed himself off and started running._ Running, gotta keep running._

Chapter 1: Warning Posted

"Yaaawwwn, man, I am sooo board." Naruto yawned, it was three years after Sasuke's return from Orochimaru, and it was a crisp spring day, that kind of days that are perfect for doing nothing, "When is Kakashi going to get here?"

"I don't know, he just said to meet him here." Sakura said stretching on the grass.

"Let me tell ya, some things never change. Like Naruto is always impatient, and Kakashi is always late!" sighed Sasuke, Naruto shot a deadly glare, then right on cue the masked teacher Kakashi showed up in a puff of smoke, "Finally!"

"MASTER KAKASHI! CAN YOU EVER BE ON TIME!!" Naruto bellowed.

"I'm sorry but an urgent warning was posted and I was asked to spread the word." Kakashi said in innocent tone, "Here take a look."

Kakashi handed the three a poster, it said: "WARNING: Be On The Look Out For This Ninja." It had a picture of a young 17-year old man with green eyes black hair wearing a forehead protector with a slashed pentagram on it. Below the picture it said: "Use Caution, Can Be Extremely Dangerous When Cornered."

"Of course any ninja is dangerous when cornered," Naruto smirked, "Common sense, people!"

"Uh, Kakashi why did you want to meet with us?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, yes that!" Kakashi said remembering the reason he came, "Don't you know what today is? No? It's been exactly 5 years since you guys officially became ninjas!"

"Really! Are you serious! It's really been 5 years!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Heh, time flies," Sasuke muttered with a rare grin.

"I thought that, ya' know it'd be worth celebrating, like we'd all have a nice dinner or something" Kakashi said casually, they could see a smile under the face mask Kakashi wore.

"We can go for RAMAN!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"NO!" the other three ninja shouted in unison shattering Naruto's hope for Raman.

"We'll meet here at 5 o'clock sharp, to go to the restaurant," Kakashi said, and with that the four left.

A few hours later team 7 found themselves waiting for Kakashi, AGAIN.

"Why does he always have to be late!" Sakura exclaimed she was pacing around the tree.

"It actually might be a good thing that Kakashi is late." Naruto said calmly.

"How is it a good thing exactly?" Sakura asked annoyed.

"Because if Kakashi was on time for once, it might mean the end of the world" Naruto said, Sasuke gave him an "Oh-Give-Me-A-Break" look then finally Kakashi arrived.

"Wow!" Sakura exclaimed sarcastically, "6:34, Master Kakashi isn't an hour and thirty-five minutes late!"

"What, I had to be late," Kakashi said with a wink, "for old times' sake!"

"Can we go eat I'm starving!" Naruto said as started to walk down the hill.


	2. Break in!

Chapter 2: Break In!

_Man that was a good meal! I can't wait to go to bed though._ Naruto thought as he fiddled with the lock on his door. _Why won't this god damned lock open!_ Naruto banged on the door in frustration and the door swung open freely.

"What the-, I thought I locked it," Naruto thought out loud. He walked in his apartment and it looked like someone had been going through all of his things. Slowly the door creaked shut. Naruto whipped around and found himself staring face to face with the young man in Kakashi's warning poster.

"GAAUUGGHH!" Naruto shouted, and then swift as a snake the intruder pulled a kunai and held it to Naruto's throat.

"You speak again, I'll kill you!" the young man said in a harsh tone, "If you want to speak ever again work with me, if I get even an ounce of struggle, you'll be talking with your hands for the rest of your life, get my drift?"

"Of course!" Naruto said backing away. Suddenly the voice came from behind the intruder, "But I don't take orders from strangers well!"

Then a figure made a slash at the intruder from behind! _Damn! This one's good, I never even saw him make the doppelganger!_ The intruder thought as he dodged the attack but he was too late; he got a deep slash on his left side.

"Hun!" the intruder fell on his to his knees, "Please, I'm so sorry listen all I want to do is warn your people about the risk of possible war!"

"LISTEN, I don't care about your sappy cover-up story!" Naruto yelled at the intruder, "Your people have already warned us about you, they say you're the one trying to declare war and you're looking for followers!"

"No you have to listen to me! Its Moragar's doing, she's the one who wants to spread war, not me! I'm trying to prevent it!" the intruder yelled.

Just then Naruto struck a spot on the back of the intruder's neck, and he fell limp to the ground.

"He attacked you!? WOW!" Konohamaru said in amazement.

"Yeah, but he was no match for a superior ninja like me!" Naruto said with a grin leaning back in his chair making it stand on two legs.

Team 7, Kakashi, and Konohamaru were all in a room discussing what had happened in Naruto's apartment, and what was said in the intruder's interrogation. The young man who broke into Naruto's apartment was named Gabriel of the village hidden-under-ground; Morelion.

"From what I heard in the interrogation, he never meant to harm you in the first place," Sasuke said with his arms folded, Naruto fell backwards on his chair.

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW YOU WHEREN'T THERE!" Naruto bellowed in rage, and he got up and sat down again.

"Naruto, calm down," Kakashi said calmly, "Hmmmm, I don't under stand why would Moragar want war against Konoha?"

"He probably was lying, I mean, Moragar said herself that it was Gabriel trying to stir up war," Sakura said shrugging her shoulders.

"No, I doubt it," Kakashi said flatly.

"What do you mean, Master Kakashi?" Konohamaru said puzzled.

"I saw no lies in his eyes during the interrogation, he was telling the truth," Kakashi said looking up at the ceiling.

"Kakashi, what will happen to Gabriel?" Naruto asked uneasily.

"We'll probably take him back to Morelion, and they'll punish him there," Kakashi said matter-of-factly.

"Punish him?" Sakura said quizzically.

"Of course, he became a rouge sence he left his village, that can get you one of the worst punishments" Sasuke said arms still folded eyes closed.

"What could they do to him?" Konohamaru asked worried.

"Well there's: banishment, torture, your ninja-hood taken away, and death," Sasuke said opening his eyes.

"Death?" Naruto gulped.

"Let me tell you, Morelion is one of the more brutal countries. He'd be lucky to get away with torture," Kakashi said looking at Konohamaru.

"Well, that sucks," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, and you know what sucks even more?" Sasuke said with a sigh, "Gabriel has a family. And I don't mean just a father, mother, and sibling. He has a wife and son."

"But if he had so much on the line by leaving then why did he leave?" Sakura asked.

"Because if he went to war and died, not just his family would lose someone but thousands would," Kakashi explained, "He thought its better that one man die than a whole nation."

"That's really cool!" Naruto said wiping his eyes.

"Are you crying!?" Sakura asked.

"NO, I just got something in my eye that's all!" Naruto said hiding his face.

"Well, it's been a long day, I'm calling it a night," Kakashi said getting up and leaving. And the rest did the same.


	3. Your Next Mission is

Chapter 3: Your Next Mission is…

Naruto got up the next morning and did his daily routine: shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and so on. He left his now messy apartment to find Sakura, and the bone-head Sasuke. It was a typical spring morning in Konoha, birds singing, cherry blossoms blooming, Konohamaru and his friends trying to sneak up on Naruto (they did that a lot!).

The day seemed normal.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto greeted Sakura and ignored Sasuke, "What do we have planed for today?"

"Well we got this mission request, it's to make sure Gabriel gets back to Morelion," Sakura answered showing Naruto a mission form.

"Well, let's do it!" Naruto said heading toward the mission center.

Team 7 and their captive Gabriel were waiting outside for Team 8 and Team 10. Moragar wanted there to be the tightest security on Gabriel. She said he was one of the best escape artists. Just then Team 8 walked to were Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting. Gabriel was studying the sky with a worried expression.

"The wind blows north east, not a good sign," mumbled the captive.

The six ninja looked at him quizzically.

"Is he going to be alright?" Kiba whispered to Shino worried. Shino shrugged his shoulders.

"Where's Kakashi?" Shino asked looking around.

"He's not coming," Sasuke said leaning against the wall, "He thinks that a couple of chunin can handle this mission without any hassle."

Just then Team 10 walked in.

"Finally, what took you so long?" Sakura asked.

"Choji had to make sure he packed enough food for himself," Ino sighed. Sure enough there was Choji snaking on his usual potato chips.

"So are we all ready to go?" Shikamaru asked the whole group.

"I dunno, are you ready Gabriel?" Naruto asked.

"Huh? Oh, sure, lets go," Gabriel stammered as he tore his eyes away from the sky. And so they began their journey to shadow country

"According to the map, Morelion is north of the land of waves by," Hinata said with her face buried in a world map, "strange that can't be right."

"What?" Choji asked through a mouthful of chips.

"It says that Morelion is in shadow country which is north of the land of waves by 128 miles!" Hinata exclaimed, "Is that right, Gabriel?"

"It's exactly correct," Gabriel said in a dull tone.

"It must be really cold there," said Ino.

_Maybe Sasuke and I will have to get really close to stay warm. _Blared the inner Sakura, and she blushed.

"Don't worry, once we get under ground it'll get a lot warmer, trust me," assured Gabriel.

"So, Gabriel what kind of family do you have?" Naruto asked.

"Well, there's my wife; Natiana, and my son; Xander," Gabriel answered with a warm smile, "I miss them so much."

"Wait a minute, you're married and have kids!?" Shikamaru said puzzled, "Aren't you a little young?"

"Well by your standards yes. But to my own people it's completely normal," Gabriel said.

"Well how did you meet her?" Ino asked interested.

"Let's see," Gabriel said thoughtfully, "Every child born in the land of shadows is given a special amulet, but the amulet is unique for that persons' soul, and there's only one perfect copy to your amulet. And our people believe that when you have found the person with the perfect match to your amulet then you have found your soul mate. But some people settle for amulets with similarities to their own."

"Is your wife's amulet similar to yours?" Ino asked looking over at Gabriel.

"Nope," Gabriel said with a smile, "ours are exactically the same. In fact this is her amulet, she has mine."

Gabriel pulled out a necklace with an intricate design on the main charm.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," Hinata whispered.

"How old were you when you got married, and had a kid?" Shikamaru asked.

"We got married when I was 15, Natiana was14, and we had Xander a year later," Gabriel answered.

"WHAT, that means you two have been married for two years!" Ino exclaimed.

"Wouldn't you get bored with the same girl?" Shikamaru asked.

"No," Gabriel said flatly, "I love her and Xander with all my heart, and if anything were to happen to them, I would never be able to forgive myself. And that's why I left to inform your country about war!"

Silence fell over the traveling party as they walked their way north. Sunset began to fall and the group decided to set up camp. Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru left to find firewood. Kiba, Ino, and Sakura set up tents. Hinata and Choji left to find food. That left Sasuke and Gabriel to set a fire.

"Interesting, you're not trying to resist being brought back to Morelion," Sasuke said making a fire pit with Gabriel's help.

"I've done all I could, so no point in staying away from home trying to avoid the inevitable," Gabriel said not looking at Sasuke.

"I see," Sasuke muttered putting the finishing touches on the fire pit.

About half an hour later they all had a fairly good sized dinner cooking over a roaring fire. The group laid out their sleeping bags in a ring around the camp fire. They were told to put shackles on Gabriel so he couldn't escape. Gabriel assured them that it was unesacary to do so but a few of the team mates felt unsure about it. He didn't resist either way.


	4. Bandits From the West

Chapter 4: Bandits from the West.

Naruto woke up the next morning before every one else except Gabriel was missing.

"Gabriel!" Naruto called out quietly trying not to wake everyone else up, especially Sakura, she looked so peaceful and beautiful, "Where are you?!"

"I'm up here," came Gabriel's soft voice from up in one of the trees. Naruto jumped up into the tree to see what he was doing. Gabriel was staring into the sunrise, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"What is?" Naruto asked confused.

"The sunrise, this is my first time seeing one," Gabriel said, a tear rolled silently down his cheek.

"You've never seen a sunrise?" Naruto asked, "What, do you live underground?"

"They don't call Morelion The-Village-Hidden-Underground for the fun of it," Gabriel said, "It's actually underground."

"Oh," Naruto said awkwardly, "well I'm gonna get breakfast, see ya."

Naruto jumped down from the tree and walked to the stream. He pulled out a kunai and waited.

Shino woke up hearing a fire crackling. He shot up and saw Gabriel working on a cooking fire.

"What are you doing?" Shino asked.

"Naruto is out catching breakfast, and I'm hungry so I want to eat as soon as possible, so I'm getting a fire ready," Gabriel answered throwing some fuel into the fire.

"Yaaawwwwnnn, morning every one," Ino sighed rubbing her eyes.

Over time every one woke up and Naruto returned with a load of freshly caught fish from the stream. The morning was very quiet, it was either every one was still asleep or they were too hungry to speak. Every one was munching on breakfast, except Shikamaru, Sasuke and Gabriel.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Quiet!" Sasuke snapped, his eyes scanned the forest the group went dead silent.

THWACK, a shukrien came out of no where and stuck to a tree behind Gabriel.

"Ha, ha, ha, what have we got here?" said a voice in the shadows, and then a chorus of laughter fallowed the voice. The 10 ninja got into a circle formation facing the outside. A large group of bandits surrounded the small team of ninjas.

"Pity, they have no where to run," said a large burly man in a mock sigh.

"Why would we want to run away from a bunch of bozos like you!?" Naruto shouted at the bandits.

The bandits started laughing again, "You think you can beat us, you've gotta be kiddin'!"

"Just try us," muttered Gabriel under his breath. Naruto noticed he changed; he went from being a quiet mild-mannered man to a battle-hungry ninja.

_What's up with him?_ Shikamaru thought.

"You heard 'im boys get 'im!" yelled a gruff looking bandit and shook his fist menacingly.

Then the bandits attacked! Naruto fought three bandits, while all the girls teamed up and fought a group of seven. Sasuke had six bandits wrapped up. Shikamaru was taking care of five bandits while Gabriel had nine. But there was more. The ninjas fought with ferocity, but none of them could compare with the thirst for blood as Gabriel. After about thirty minutes of fighting bandits numbers were reduced from 39 to 12. The leader of the bandits fell backwards and looked up to see Gabriel advancing towards him.

"RUN!" his voice cracked and took off running in the opposite direction, the others followed his lead.

"COWARDS!" Gabriel yelled as the last of the bandits disappeared.

The whole group seemed out of breath, especially Gabriel. Then Gabriel started laughing.

"Man, that was fun, too bad they were only bandits, it would have been better if they were ninjas," chuckled Gabriel whipping his eye.

"What's with him?" Ino whispered to Hinata, she shrugged her shoulders. Then Ino realized there was a long knife sticking out of Gabriel's back, "Gabriel, you're hurt!"

Gabriel looked back and saw the knife, "Oh, would you look at that," he muttered, then with slight tug Gabriel pulled out the knife.

"We should put some disinfectant on it," said Sakura moving closer.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be fine," Gabriel said calmly.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked worried.

"I said don't worry, see? It's already stopped bleeding," Gabriel said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, we should get going if we plan on making any progress today," Sasuke said stating to pack up camp.

"I was thinking," Kiba said finishing packing.

"That's new," Naruto grunted while he wrestled with his sleeping bag. Kiba knocked his head in the dirt for that.

"I was thinking, if this place is as far north as the map says wont we need snow gear?" Kiba asked scratching the side of his head.

"Yeah, we will," Gabriel answered putting out the fire, "there's a store that'll rent us the stuff just before it starts to get cold.

"Well I'm tired of waiting, let's go!" Naruto said getting his face out of the dirt.

Teams 7,8 and10 with Gabriel left the camp site and headed north. It was quiet until about 1 O'clock.

"If we keep going at this pace we should make it to wave country by sundown," Hinata said looking at the world map, "Do we know anybody there?"

"I know! We can stop by old man Tazuna's place, and see Inari," Naruto answered cheerfully.

"I guess we could stop there," Sakura thought out loud.

"Alright, we could stop there, but we'll only stay for one night," Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

"He is so annoying," Kiba muttered under his breath and sighed.

The rest of the day was filled with walking and the occasional comment form someone. But the day was very uneventful. By sundown the party was walking on the bridge that Tazuna built, and team 7 protected him while he built it. There was a lot of traffic on the bridge.

"Man, this place bring back a lot of memories," Naruto said with a smile.

"Please don't get all sentimental," Sasuke sighed as he rolled his eyes.

They continued to walk and they finally reached Tazuna's house. It looked like he did a lot of remodeling; the house was a lot bigger, and much cleaner. Naruto walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" Said a voice coming from the inside, Naruto didn't recognize it. The door creaked open the there inside stood a 15-year-old Inari.

"NARUTO!" Inari exclaimed excitedly, "Is that you!?"

"Yes it is!" Naruto replied happily, "What have you been up to?"

"Not much," smiled Inari then he noticed all of the ninjas standing behind Naruto, "Who are they?"

"Oh, starting from the left is: Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, you know Sasuke and Sakura, and Gabriel," said Naruto.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Inari asked kindly.

"We're on a mission, and you're place seemed like a convienent place to rest," Sasuke answered.

"Alright, well come on in!" Inari said beckoning the group into the house.

"Hey, Inari, where's your Grandpa?" Sakura asked.

"He's away on business," answered Inari.

The group was enjoying themselves over a nice dinner provided by Tsunami.

"So what are you doing on this mission?" Tsunami asked pleasantly.

"We're making sure that our friend here gets back home," answered Kiba looking over at Gabriel.

"Oh, really? So what kind of dreams do you have planned for the future?" Tsunami asked Gabriel.

The group went silent; they knew what was in store for him when he gets home.

"My dream is that my wife can live a full and happy life, and for my son to become the man he wants to be, and that his own dreams come true," said Gabriel looking up at the ceiling. There was an awkward silence; Gabriel stood up, "May I be excused, I need to take a walk."

"Sure," Tsunami said trying to figure out what she heard; _he can't be old enough to have that kind of family, could he?_

Gabriel was walking through a path in the forest. He would do anything to be with his family at that moment to tell them how proud of them he was and how he missed them so much.

"Gabriel!" Called Naruto and he caught up with him.

"Why are you following me?" asked Gabriel.

"Sorry, just following orders, we were told to keep at least one person with you, at all times," Naruto answered.

"It's getting late we should head back and go to bed," said Gabriel as he turned around and headed back towards Tazuna's house.


	5. AUTHORS NOTE

AN: Okay I regret to inform you all my dedicated fans and readers that I will be retiring as a fan fiction author. I am so sorry every one, but the reason(s) for retiring is a) there was a bug in my computer and it ate most of my stories, b) school has gotten so hectic and difficult and if I ever hope to achieve my dream of becoming an Air Force officer then I will need to dedicate my mind heart and soul to that, and c) I have had a terminal case of writers block.

I will still colab with other interested authors like I am colabing with the author that goes by the pen-name of Oro-sama, and the story is called: Clue: Ninja Style! And I may come up with one-shot drabble occasionally but other than that I am retired.

Again I am so sorry and it breaks my heart to have to disappoint all my beloved fans, who knows maybe next summer I might get a come back but until then- Ja Ne!

-Ernilriel

TT


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